As you can see, we’re entering Benefield Trail now. Welcome to Running: A FEVER. My name is Michael Davis. This is a podcast about fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end. And I want to do it by loving my life enough to make it last as long as possible.

Well, gotta be careful here because this is the entrance, the trail head said Benefield Trails, which I assume they are talking about as the north and south loop of the trail. And it said Bear Hollow trail as well. I gotta watch for the signs. Speaking of which, it took me quite a while to find this place. I thought it should be about the same distance from the Greenfield trail as the Greenfield trail is from my cabin. It turns out it was, and I wound up going way down the mountain before I turned around. There are not many places to turn around, as you can imagine. And there’s a sign going down toward the picnic area on the right side, which is what I was driving on, that tells you where it is. But the glare was so much at that point from the sun on my windshield (which I need to clean on the inside) that I couldn’t see it. And then, coming back the other way, the same sign was all they had; it was on the left side. And I missed it the first time around. Anyway, there was an overlook. I just happened to slow down at the overlook and saw the sign that said Benefield Trail, which is on the other side of the highway. So these trails, the Benefield trails, cross the highway four times, and I’m pretty sure there won’t be any crosswalks or lights or anything. Not that you can really go super fast, but if you go fast enough to hit somebody…

I said north and south loop; it’s actually the east and west loops. I don’t know which is which, so I’ll take the west loop and we’ll see how it goes. I think it’s the smaller loop. It should be slightly longer than the Turkey Springs trail, but unlike the Turkey Springs trail, the length of this trail is the entire loop, whereas on the other trails we did, we had to go out and come back. So if it’s a 1.3-mile trail, it’s twice that, because you have to come back.

It’s a beautiful day here at Mt. Magazine and very windy. Cold. Forty-three on the thermometer on the Running: A FEVER-mobile. And very windy. I don’t know what the real feel is, but it’s windy. Looks like the signs are good, because it’s marked out, well, that sign’s not very good—parking lot. Bear Hollow trail. So we’ll keep going on the west loop. Difficulty rating on the Benefield trail is easy. So far, it looks that way. It’s just a flat elevation here. I think the elevation’s about 2700 feet. So 100 feet below the top of Signal Hill trail.

I was going to go on Signal Hill trail this time, go up to the highest point. You know, when you do something twice, it becomes a tradition, so every time I come here, I’d have to do that trail. But we haven’t done this one, Benefield Trail. It’s easy, which is good. I mean, last time we came here, I think I was probably in much worse shape than I am now. And all I did was the Signal Hill trail, no other hiking. And this time I’m on my third hike of the trip already. It’ll be the last one. This is the fourth in our Mt. Magazine series, not counting the…I guess it’s the fifth overall, Mt. Magazine, but the Signal Hill trail one was on a different trip, so I don’t know.

I’m doing quite a bit more this time, especially on the Greenfield trail, probably as long or longer than the Signal Hill trail. But I realized that I didn’t do the full Signal Hill trail last time because it goes in a loop, and there are actually two trail heads, and they are connected for a complete loop. Anyway, I didn’t do that, I think I just went straight up and back down the way I came. So we may do that again to get the whole experience at some point in the future. I don’t know if I’ll come here and stay again. It’s pretty expensive. But I think a day trip is definitely a possibility.

One of the main reasons I wanted to take this trail is that we don’t have video of it yet. So I wanted to provide that for you and preserve it for all time. I’ve got a pretty good pace going here. It is easy difficulty. It’s the first easy difficulty trail I’ve been on here. I have to say, it looks pretty easy. Not a lot of rocks on the trail, so I don’t have to worry about where I’m stepping. Not a high elevation or incline. There are some branches. I’m surprised the trail’s in as good shape as it is after all the high winds, but I guess the trees mercifully break the wind a little bit, provide a barrier. That’s good, because it would be even colder. It’s supposed to get down to thirty-two degrees tonight in Paris or Magazine. One of those little towns. So that means possibly eighteen degrees up here on the mountain. We’ll see how it goes. I have plenty of wood. Hopefully, the wind will die down because if the wind is up, I can’t burn my fire. It just comes back in.

I see some old trees that have been cut off at the top. For safety reasons, I’m sure. Well, maybe they just fell off. It doesn’t look like they were sawn. Slight incline here. Slightly more rocks. And we’re already coming up on the highway. Like I said, these trails cross the highway four times. This will be the first on the west side. It’s hard to tell the difference between the sound of a vehicle on the road and the sound of the wind. Only hiking is allowed. No scooters. Lots of nuts. I don’t know what type of nuts these are. They don’t look like pecans, but I’m not really sure. I’ll put that one in my pocket. I know a pecan when I see it. I’m clueless on any other kind of nut. I guess I know a peanut when I see it. But those are mainly domestic. However, I think the pecan trees I’ve seen have also been domestic. Mostly.

On this trail, there are supposed to be blue blazes. I don’t see any blazes whatsoever. A blaze is just a strip of paint on a tree, so you can see which trail you’re on as you’re walking by. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know. What if you got lost in the woods? You can’t find the trail, and you don’t know which way to go. Some of these trails don’t loop around. That’s one of the hazards of hiking. Some people, when they are hiking, they carry a device that can be tracked. So if somebody knows you’re going up there. Okay. We’re on the Mossback Ridge trail, and I don’t know which way to go. Huh. I’m going to have to pull out the ole map here. Good thing I brought this map. Mossback Ridge. Well, the West Loop. I’m on the west loop. Crossed that. Went around. Looks like the Mossback Ridge may go to the right. There’s another trail. There’s no arrow. There’s no arrow on the Mossback Ridge trail sign. But here it looks like the Benefield trail. Is that a trail or just a creek? Is this a trail? I think this trail just goes to the water, wherever that water is. I have to go down this dry creek bed here. I’m going to jog across here and take a look. Is this a trail? Looks like it stops. Unless you want to get wet, so, anyway, a process of deduction is needed here.

This is probably the roughest part of the trail. Lots of rocks, lots of big rocks. This doesn’t look unlike the other trails we’ve been on this time. There are a lot of stones on those as well. Okay, this is definitely a trail. Somebody’s come through here and probably cut this stuff. Alright, I see the road again. I don’t see the trail on this side of the road. Unless I want to go up the street here, there doesn’t seem to be a trail. There might have been a trail there, but I didn’t see one, and I don’t want to get lost. I’ve got a road, and I might as well walk on it or the side of it. Lots of nuts. No squirrels. In for the winter.

I dressed a little better today. It’s about the same temperature, I think, as it was yesterday. Maybe a little warmer. But with the wind, I’m sure it feels the same or cooler. So, all ready to go. I went to take out the trash from the cabin, and I’m like, I think I’ll put on another layer. So I went inside and put on another layer. Now I’m pretty warm. I’ve got my royal blue gloves, I think that’s royal blue. Maybe purple, my color vision isn’t that great. Anyway, it’s bright. Made by master knitter Henrietta Davis specifically for me. Custom-made, bespoke gloves.

Anyway, I think that was the Benefield trail west loop, more or less, with a possible detour along the road. You’ll have to look at the map. I’m pretty sure you can find it online or at one of the many Arkansas tourist information centers around the state. So I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Remember, if you have the fever, keep it, and if you don’t have the fever, catch it. And I will talk to you next time on Running: A FEVER.